Norah recently.

Can't believe that Norah is almost five years old already! A whole hand, as Norah as said. What a gift! Norah, being your parents is a blessing. We love you so much and are so proud of who you are.

Norah is smart, kind, and funny. She is a protective big sister and is a big mother hen. She loves to look out for, and sometimes bother, her sisters. She is so good with babies and really loves to help younger kids. We watch a friend's baby one day a week and she loves to hold her and help with her. Sometimes she talks about having an imaginary brother; not sure where she gets that from. Norah started preschool, Sunday school, and Kindermusik again recently and has done well with them all. She is a bit hesitant starting new things, but does well with talking about what it will be like and what will happen, and it has helped her this year that she already knew a couple kids in each class. She is more comfortable in smaller groups- bigger groups, especially if there are lots of older kids, make her nervous. She seemed ready to go back to preschool and we are thankful that she is excited to go and has good things to say when we pick her up. It has been so good for her! I'm amazed at all the things she is picking up already in just a couple weeks time. She is exploding in letter learning, in identification, sounds, finding letters in words, etc. She can correctly identify most of the letters and knows words that start with many different letters. She knows some of the sounds too! She is even picking up on exceptions to the rules, like the other day she asked me what letter Phoebe (my sister's dog) starts with and was confused how it could start with P when it didn't make the “puh” sound. I want to practice writing more letters than just the ones in her name. She knows all of her shapes, colors, numbers, etc. She can count to 29, but then sometimes gets mixed up and starts counting by tens. She also likes to pretend to speak Spanish. She knows a few words, but then just makes up things (our neighbors speak Spanish). We did a few pages each day in her “school books” this summer, like preschool workbooks, and she did a great job of doing it joyfully- a great way to keep practicing and learning!

I was thinking recently about different phases Norah has gone through. Sometimes it doesn't seem like a big deal until it's over and then when you think about it again later you miss it. Norah went through a big Coldplay phase awhile back, and has asked to hear a couple of their songs again. Last summer Norah loved to take bags outside and go on nature hunts and put random stuff in it. She hardly ever did that this summer, but asked for a bag once this week and it made me so happy to remember/revisit that stage again. Norah used to always ask me to help her change the clothes on her dolls, but recently I've noticed her dolls in different outfits, so she's doing it herself! When she was three, she said her favorite color was dark blue, but all of this year it's been pink, sometimes pink and purple. She used to like to sleep with socks on, then not for awhile, and now likes to again.

A big excitement for Norah this summer was learning to ride without training wheels! We worked on it for a long time, and she was so close, but was too afraid of falling so she never really took off. We let it go because she wasn't showing much interest and we didn't want to force it, so she didn't even try for a couple weeks, but then at a friends house she just picked up a bike and did it! It was like it just clicked. She loves to ride bike now. She also got a new “big kid” scooter with two wheels (her old one had three), and has liked riding that as well. Norah loves to make creations with sand/mud/water in the backyard with the sand toys and dishes from the play house. She loves to play with Elizabeth, our neighbor friend, whenever they are out together. She loves to go to the park.

Norah loves to make crafts with paper, colors, scissors, and glue sticks. She likes to draw/write notes on her clipboard and play restaurant. She enjoys reading books, dolls, building things, and helping cook or bake. She loves to play golf, help in the workshop, and make sandwiches with Kley. She enjoys her allotted screen time each day watching the PBS app. She recently started sleeping with her closet light on (along with the nightlight), which she never used to do, but thankfully is a good sleeper. She occasionally wakes in the night to use the bathroom, but falls asleep easily because she rarely naps. She has rest time in her room and she does very well playing quietly. If she does happen to nap, it takes her a long time to fall asleep at night. She still needs encouragement to take her vitamins. She has always done well at the dentist, but last time did especially well and sat so still, did everything they asked of her, and even did x-rays! We did have a few follow up hearing checks because Norah didn't pass her preschool hearing test last spring, but it was just some fluid that thankfully went away on its own and everything is okay. At the beginning of the summer, Norah switched to size 6/girls small clothes (goodbye toddler section!) and just switched to size 11 shoes at the beginning of the school year.

Norah is intuitive and has an incredible memory. She loves milk and her favorite food is macaroni and cheese. She has been praying more, which is incredible, and almost always thanks God for babies and bounce houses. She doesn't like to say goodbye or Facetime, I think because it makes her sad or miss them. She loves when Kley comes home and wants to be around him. Kley and Norah recently started reading bits of Little House on the Prairie before bed. One of my favorite moments of the day is reading books with just Norah before rest time in the afternoon after we lay Lucy and Ellory down. Norah is a pretty good rule follower and listener. We love you so much, Norah!